8 Tips to Creating a Beautiful Kitchen Using Brown Cabinets

The all-white kitchen was a pretty logical answer to those dark cherry and espresso cabinets of the '90s and early 2000s, and the dated honey oak decor of the '80s. If you couldn't rip them out, you painted them white and swapped out the hardware to cope.

Still, brown wood cabinets have their place. "The way we are using wood in kitchens now hearkens back to early mid-century design," says Bay Area architect Devi Dutta.

The bold, wood accent wall in an otherwise stark modern kitchen in Melbourne, Australia, showcases the beautiful wood grain, and appears unified while it actually hides tons of storage. The bookcase and stools add additional warmth to all of the white minimalism.

A fresh way to feature a darker wood is to simply showcase the wood grain — even a variety of different grain, as seen in this kitchen. The tall pantry shelves showcase vertical grain, while the lower cabinets go horizontal.

Aside from the dark cherry palette, a hallmark of the dated '90s kitchen is the ornate carvings and details meant to look more expensive. This modern Los Angeles kitchen shows that you can keep the dark hues if you smooth out all of the edges for a sleek, modern style.

Wall-to-wall wood paneling gets a modern update in the kitchen of this California Wine Country home. There may be a lot of brown wood featured here, but the concrete floors provide a necessary counterpoint.